Federal Government Loans For Small Business

Federal Government Loans For Small Business – A sign in the window of a barber shop indicates that the facility is closed due to the COVID-19 virus in Ottawa, March 18, 2020. Adrian Wild/The Canadian Press

A $25 billion federal loan program for small businesses is ready to launch, but the government and opposition parties are at loggerheads over legislative plans to pass separate wage subsidies for businesses hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Federal Government Loans For Small Business

At a news conference in Toronto, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said the country’s biggest banks will begin accepting applications for interest-free loans of up to $40,000 for small businesses starting Thursday.

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The loans are guaranteed by $25 billion in state funds, and businesses that had payrolls between $50,000 and $1 million in 2019, based on tax records, are eligible to apply. One-quarter of each loan, up to $10,000, will be forgiven if businesses repay the rest of the loan by the end of 2022, and any balance after that will be converted into a three-year term at 5 percent interest.

Each of the nation’s largest banks has hundreds of thousands of small business customers and is bracing for a flood of loan requests, although some small business owners are wary of borrowing in a crisis.

“Our systems are ready,” said Dave McKay, chief executive officer of Royal Bank of Canada, after the company’s annual meeting on Wednesday. “We can handle a significant amount of volume and applications quickly.”

Policymakers have been working to shorten the time it takes to approve and disburse loans as many business owners plead for quick relief. Government officials initially proposed a five-day waiting period from application to loan approval to allow for verification and prevent fraud. But after a weekend of intense talks with bankers and lawyers, the government expects to be able to approve most loans more quickly.

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Mr. Morneau said the government hopes the loans will be processed within about two days, but the timing will vary by company and institution.

Businesses needing loans are encouraged to apply through the financial institution that holds their main operating account, and the government aims to make them available “as widely as possible” through smaller financial institutions, including credit unions, Mr. Morneau said.

“To the extent that someone is challenged by the institution they are in, of course they will be able to go to another institution,” he said.

Mr. Morneau and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also confirmed Wednesday that the government has agreed to more flexibility for businesses applying for the proposed Canada Emergency Earnings Subsidy (CEVS).

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Earlier this week, the government submitted a draft law to the opposition parties to implement a new wage subsidy program. The parties are in the midst of negotiations on the bill, and the date for the return to parliament has not yet been announced.

The program will provide 75 percent wage subsidies to eligible employers, up to a maximum benefit of $847 per week per employee.

Employers expressed concern that the initial rules were too rigid, requiring them to show a 30 percent drop in income for the months of March, April and May compared to the same months last year.

As first reported by The Globe and Mail on Tuesday, Mr. Trudeau and Mr. Morneau confirmed that the law includes several concessions on that front.

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Namely, under certain conditions, employers will be able to use the average of January and February income as a comparison period. For March, companies will only have to show a 15 percent decrease in revenue. The 30 percent rule remains in effect for April and May.

The finance minister described the wage subsidy program as a “colossal” public expenditure and said the revisions would increase its expected cost from $71 billion to $73 billion.

Business groups generally welcomed the revised rules, but some said it would be even better if the government removed the income threshold altogether.

The deadline for the adoption of the law on wage subsidies appears to be linked to demands from opposition parties for increased parliamentary oversight of the prime minister and cabinet. Mr. Morneau said the Bloc Québécois was ready to support the bill and called on other opposition parties to reconsider their positions.

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Conservative MP Pierre Poljevre declined to comment specifically on the negotiations between the parties, but said on Wednesday that his party supports a return to regular question periods in the House of Commons.

“We are proposing that there be some form of question period so that we can hold the government to account,” he told reporters, insisting that the government should be blamed for not acting more quickly to introduce the wage subsidy.

The House of Commons sat briefly last month in drastically reduced numbers to allow for physical distancing.

Mr. Trudeau said Wednesday he welcomes parliamentary oversight — but it should be done online, not in person.

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“It will be a difficult day for the country,” he said. “We face a unique challenge, but I know that if we come together, our economy will bounce back after this crisis.”

Your time is valuable. Have the Top Business Headlines newsletter conveniently delivered to your inbox in the morning or evening. Apply today. The program will now be available to more businesses that are independent entrepreneurs who receive income directly from their business; businesses that rely on contractors; and family corporations that pay dividends to employees rather than payroll.

Costs will be subject to verification and audit by the Government of Canada. Funding will be delivered in partnership with financial institutions.

More details, including the launch date for applications under the new criteria, will follow in the coming days.

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Our government will continue to work on solutions to help business owners and entrepreneurs who operate through their personal bank account rather than a business account, or who have yet to file a tax return, such as start-ups.

The Government of Canada has provided $25 billion to businesses across the country affected by the COVID-19 pandemic through the umbrella Business Credit Availability Program (BCAP). As part of the BCAP package of business financial assistance programs now being implemented by the Government of Canada, the following two main streams of emergency business loans will open next week:

Eligible businesses can borrow up to $40,000 through the CEBA facility. A CEBA is a federally funded revolving line of credit made available to any eligible business and applied online. The CEBA online application portal(s) is expected to go live this week. Expect announcements from all banks when the CEBA portal(s) open for applications.

Eligibility: CEBA funding will be available to businesses that paid an annual payroll of $20,000 to $1,500,000 in 2019. More details to follow.

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CEBA funds will be available to businesses that paid an annual payroll of $50,000 to $1,000,000 in 2019. At this time, publicly available information suggests that the funds are intended to cover urgent costs such as payroll, rent, insurance and utilities.

Revolving Loan, Then 5-Year Loan: The CEBA will be a federally funded revolving line of credit until December 31, 2020. At the end of this calendar year, it will be converted to a 5-year term loan, maturing in 2025.

Interest Free Period, then 5% Interest: No interest will be payable in 2020, 2021 or 2022. Interest will begin to accrue on any outstanding balance at an annual rate of 5%, payable monthly, beginning January 1, 2023 .for the rest of the three-year term until the end of 2025.

Repayment Term: The outstanding amount and applicable interest will become due and payable in full at the end of 2025. No comment or concession has been made at this time regarding the amounts outstanding at the end of 2025, so companies should carefully review the terms of the loan if they are concerned about this time frame and assume that commercial terms and prices will apply at that time.

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25% Loan Forgiveness: Businesses that repay 75% of their outstanding debt on or before the end of 2022 will have the remaining 25% of their loan forgiven. This is the most beneficial aspect of the CEBA program. For each company that borrows from its CEBA credit line this year, the Government will look at the amount that is outstanding on January 1, 2021, which is the calculation date for the purposes of determining the amount of potential loan forgiveness. To qualify for 25% loan forgiveness, a business must repay 75% of the amount from January 1, 2021 between then and December 31, 2022. The maximum amount that will be forgiven will be the greater of (i) $10,000 or (ii) 25% of the balance on January 1, 2021. To be clear, businesses that do not borrow the full $40,000 will not have $10,000 forgiven, it will be a lower forgiveness amount equal to 25% of their total on January 1, 2021.

The repayment deadline for qualifying for loan forgiveness is the end of 2022. If 75% of the borrowed amount is not repaid before December 31, 2022, the company will not be eligible for any forgiveness under

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